I may keep this one a little shorter than normal. Usually with the Comic Book Spotlight, I want to catch you up a bit to where the story is so that you can pick up reading. With Ryder on the Storm, the story is already done (for now). The issue that just came out was part 3 of 3, so that’s all there is. That’s not to say there isn’t room for a sequel, but I’ll try to keep this one a little more spoiler free.

Another good reason to keep this spoiler free is because it’s such a surprising book. Maybe it’s just ’cause I didn’t really know anything about it before I picked it up, but every little twist and turn the book took grabbed me. From the onset it looks like a standard (if not particularly gruesome) noir detective story. Private investigator is called in by the girlfriend of a dead man. It looks like a clear case of murder (he is found with several holes drilled in his head), but the girl claims it’s a suicide. Being a sucker for dames, he takes the case and it draws him deeper and deeper into stuff he didn’t know existed.

So much of the fun of the story comes from this weird world that author David Hine creates. I haven’t read too much of his stuff, but I was impressed with his more horror oriented work on Batman. The world he creates here is such a mash up of genres, and that makes it really fun and unpredictable. It draws from noir, horror, and a touch of sci-fi.

The mystery doesn’t really end up being much about who killed the guy, but more about the intricate web of weirdness behind it all, and it takes some really sickening turns. The characters are all fairly fleshed out and [he pushes] them beyond their fairly standard beginnings. The art is here is a little more photographic than I usually like, but it really accentuates the tone perfectly.

Sorry for being vague here, but this really is something you should go into with as little information as possible. I encourage everyone to go out and grab it, not only because its a good comic, but because the comic publisher, Radical Comics, has really been impressing me with their output. They are a small company, mainly focused on horror and sci fi (as far as I can tell), and do a good job of maintaining high quality throughout their line. The Abattoir, which is still going, is quickly shaping up to be one of my favorite horror comics. You can check them out at their Facebook page.